Science, Soul, and the Spirit of Nature: Leading Thinkers on the Restoration of Man and Creation

Book Description

An exploration of the relationship between humans and nature through conversations with 12 leading scientific and social visionaries

â€¢ Explores the importance of the unification of humankind and nature as it relates to creation, destruction, diversity, and the spiritual health of the world

â€¢ Contains interviews with Rupert Sheldrake, Jane Goodall, and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Rigoberta MenchÃº Tum, among others

Societyâ€™s attitude toward nature has changed considerably over the years. Terms pertaining to the anthropocentric paradigm of "mankind in charge," such as supervisor or owner, have been replaced by caretaker or trustee. This approach, although more appropriate, still indicates a complete separation of humankind from nature. Yet increasing numbers of people have begun to feel that they are intrinsically part of nature. This concept of unity with the natural world--that weÂ are nature--is gaining momentum among many innovative social reformers from many diverse fields.

In Science, Soul, and the Spirit of Nature, Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld interviews 12 respected visionary thinkers, representing all continents, about their deep connection with the earth and their views on the relationship between humanity and nature. Presented as a series of thought-provoking conversations, this book delves deeply into the many conceptions we hold about nature, showing that while many strides have been made in the area of its preservation, we must now take the next step. Each contributor adds insights into the urgent change in consciousness that we must adopt in order to heal and restore our holistic relationship with the earth that was emblematic of the first peoples--reminding us that a separation from and destruction of nature is a spiritual destruction of ourselves.

Customer Reviews:

Developing a New View of Nature.......2007-02-19

This book is a collection of interviews by Princess Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld of the Netherlands. She is quite well known in Europe and Africa as a social reformer. She is also an honorary member of the international think-tank The Club of Budapest, and she manages a nature reserve in South Africa.

The twelve interviews are with some distinguished individuals, each of whom is inspired by a deep love and respect for the natural world. They include Masaru Emoto who has become well known for his highly controversial research into the effects of thoughts and feelings on the structure of water, Jane Goodall, Rupert Sheldrake and James Wolfensohn, a former president of the World Bank.

What emerges is a common theme: that the quality of our personal lives is inseparable from that of all life on the planet.

As van Lippe-Biesterfeld writes in the forward, "This gives each of us a unique and personal responsibility. The knowledge that we are co-creators of our life on Earth, that our ideas and actions have consequences well beyond their scope, could serve to scare us and make us withdraw; but might also enhance our awareness and add meaning to our life. The knowledge that we are creating our own reality makes life a wonderful learning process, in spite of and with all its difficulties. This in turn may give rise to new priorities with respect to society as a whole."

If you have an interest in the Web of Life this book makes for extremely interesting reading.

I have also learned that all the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the Lippe-Biesterfeld Nature College Foundation, whose mission is to encourage humanity's role as conservator of the natural world through an understanding of the essential spirituality of Nature itself.

Highly recommended.

Tellers of the New Story.......2006-07-15

Everything from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to the Religious Right's conviction that we live in the End Times is pointing to the fact that we live at a time when the very nature of being human is changing. Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld has collected a number of cutting edge thinkers into a conversation about our relationship with nature and our attitudes toward love. It's a tad elitest for my taste -- after all, it was written by a princess, and it might have included more religious voices since some very interesting work is being done by Christian eco-theologians and Buddhist monks, but these are small things in view of its overwhelming honesty. Savor this on your summer vacation.

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Hayfever plants;: Their appearance, distribution, time of flowering, and their role in hayfever,
Roger P Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Hafner Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Plants | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Botany | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006C0IB8

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HAYFEVER PLANTS: THEIR APPEARANCE, DISTRIBUTION, TIME OF FLOWERING, & THEIR ROLE IN HAYFEVER, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO NORTH AMERICA
Roger P. Wodehouse
Manufacturer: Chronica Botanica Waltham, MA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IWKP8C

Customer Reviews:

One Beautiful Island.......2000-04-07

I wrote a review on this 2 months ago, but I hope this one go's in. I went there, saw it and done it. The book is very accurate and a great guide to the islands, I recommend it to all first time visitors- don't forget to visit the ragga club on the east side, the owner also has great living accomadations on the ocean for the tourist.

Book Description

In this book the author has collected a number of his important works and added an extensive commentary relating his ideas to those of other prominentnames in the consciousness debate. The view presented here is that of a convinced dualist who challenges in a lively and humorous way the prevailing materialist "doctrines" of many recent works. Also included is a new attempt to explain mind-brain interaction via a quantum process affecting the release of neurotransmitters. John Eccles received a knighthood in 1958 and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine/Physiology in 1963. He has numerous other awards honouring his major contributions to neurophysiology.

Customer Reviews:

The soul found by a neurologist.......2003-01-05

This book is a unique example of a scientific trying to go further of the materialistic approach that prevails in the scientific community.
After the book he wrote with Karl Popper (The brain and its mind) sir John Eccles, Nobel Prize in the 60's, wrote this one, described by him as "the book he had been trying to write during his entire life". Actually, he passed away soon after writing it.
This book is about the search of way to allow the mind to control the brain, and so allowing the very reality of the free will. The main adversary here is the energy conservation law. That law expresses that the total energy in the universe is constant. The problem with free will is that it needs the possibility of a movement (Finally energy) triggered by the mind. He finally found that way, bases in very small cells in the brain whose response to electrical stimulus falls under the laws of quantum mechanics.
The book is in many occasions difficult to follow if you are not a neurologist, but is so well written that you can assess the quality of the arguments even when you can't catch all the technicalities.
This book is a must for everyone interested in the relationship between mind and brain, and is the perfect gun, in the battle against a materialistic reductionism of the mind, for those who still believe in the free will and the real existence of the soul.

Book Description

Patai's 1992 Guide to the Chemistry of Functional Groups Saul Patai, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Ever since the publication of the first volume of `The Chemistry of Functional Groups' in 1964, the Patai series has acted as an essential reference source to many researchers. By the end of 1991, the series consisted of 50 titles bound in 73 volumes, containing nearly 900 chapters written by over 1250 authors. The aim of this Guide, as was that of the previous edition, is to present sufficient material on each of the published chapters to allow the researcher to decide whether these chapters are relevant and useful for his or her purpose, and thus worth pursuing in full. For those who are familiar with only selected volumes from the series, the cross-referencing between complementary and related chapters from different volumes will be invaluable. The Guide is fully indexed by both subject and author thus making it an essential reference tool for all organic chemists.

Patai's Guide to the Chemistry of Functional Groups (The Chemistry of Functional Groups)

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Patai's Guide to the Chemistry of Functional Groups (The Chemistry of Functional Groups)
Saul Patai
Manufacturer: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

This book provides an elementary, accessible introduction for engineers and scientists to the concepts of ordinary and partial boundary value problems, acquainting readers with fundamental properties and with efficient methods of constructing solutions or satisfactory approximations. Discussions include: · ordinary differential equations · classical theory of partial differential equations · Laplace and Poisson equations · heat equation · variational methods of solution of corresponding boundary value problems · methods of solution for evolution partial differential equations The author presents special remarks for the mathematical reader, demonstrating the possibility of generalizations of obtained results and showing connections between them. For the non-mathematician, the author provides profound functional-analytical results without proofs and refers the reader to the literature when necessary. Solving Ordinary and Partial Boundary Value Problems in Science and Engineering contains essential functional analytical concepts, explaining its subject without excessive abstraction.

Book Description

The fourth edition of publishing's only adventure annual offers another exhilarating collection of the year's most gripping and entertaining adventure stories—from the world's coldest waters to its scariest wildfire. Drawn from the year's most memorable adventure book titles, magazine pieces, and websites, these stories focus on men and women pushing beyond their limits—from the woman who swam to Antarctica to the seven snowboarders who tried to ride out an avalanche in British Columbia's untracked Selkirk Mountains, to the biologist trying to survive his search for a new species of bear. Including new work by David Roberts, Sy Montgomery, Peter Leschak, and Tim Cahill, these selections prove once again that today's best adventure literature ranks among the best writing anywhere.

Customer Reviews:

Good stuff, but you may have seen some of it........2003-10-20

The book is 294 pages and has 16 selections. For the most part they are all good adventure/survival tales but if you really enjoy this genre then you probably already read Outside, Men's Journal and Nat'l Geographic Adventure. So there's the catch. Four of the pieces appeared in Men's Journal over the past year, three in Adventure, and two in Outside - over half the book. Of the remaining seven selections, three are from magazines and four are book excerpts. (In last year's annual nine of 14 were book excerpts and only one magazine was used twice.) Anyway, it is good stuff, and worth reading again. Four selections deal with mountaineering or avalanches. There are profiles of bull riders and stunt flyers. You'll read about killer lions, trekking central Africa, torture in Burma and being taken hostage in Columbia. Several selections are a chronicle of the times we live in: the World Trade Center, bombings in Bali, and the murder of Daniel Pearl. I'm thinking this would be a good holiday present for a a guy, especially a teenage boy who likes adventure and/or the outdoors. (I say 'guy' only because all the stories focus on men or the male point of view in the adventure, though several do involve women.) It is fast, enjoyable reading that hits a pretty wide variety of activity. It makes a good introduction to the Adrenaline Series or the books that provided the excerpts, a couple of which I will now be looking for.

Book Description

Only 200 people have ever been in Christopher Whitcomb's elite branch of the F.B.I. The Hostage Rescue Team is its most highly trained and specialized squadron-equivalent to the Navy's Seals and the Army's Delta Force-charged with terrorist capture, hostage situations, and other large-scale emergencies in the U.S. and around the world. Whitcomb is the first HRT member ever to write about his experience. With breathtaking immediacy, Whitcomb describes the brutal training, the weapons and tactics, and the unbreakable camaraderie of the HRT. In short order, after joining HRT in 1991, Whitcomb was sent on missions to Ruby Ridge and Waco, and his frank assessment of those missions is must reading for anyone interested in modern law enforcement.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Perspective.......2007-04-29

A close-up look at the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team.

Whitcomb takes you through the FBI Academy, New Operator Training School and the U.S. Marine Corps Scout/Sniper School. Since his background was not miliary/law enforcement, he presents an interesting perspective on the training and day-to-day life of one of the more elite units in U.S. law enforcement.

A significant portion of the book is dedicated to Ruby Ridge & Waco, two pivotal events in Whitcomb's career and the FBI in general. It appears the FBI learned some hard lessons at both of these events and is a better organization now. I did not get the sense that Whitcomb or his peers fully grasped what was wrong with the FBI in the first place. His laundry list of "stuff" he had in his firing position at Waco (300 yards from the compound) should have been a red flag; grenades, two Browning pistols, CAR-16, Remington 700, Barrett .50 cal, M60 machine gun, .223 cal Squad Automatic Weapon. That is serious firepower and should not be necessary for a law enforcement operation.

Overall a great book that does credit to the FBI and the author.

Chilling and thoughtful all at once, and thus VERY hard to put down.......2006-06-25

I met Chris recently at a college reunion. I had not known him in college, but when I saw that someone from our small rural liberal arts college would discuss being on the FBI Hostage Rescue Team and more, I was intrigued. His tales were intriguing and I ordered up the book. Better still! For clearly this is a product of much thought, of much living even, and here is someone who feels like one of us doing things quite amazing, exciting, frightening, and sometimes very deflating. His prose is great, sometimes poetic. He weaves a tale in a wonderful way...as when his tale of his first killing, a New Hampshire deer, shifts brilliantly into a key moment in his role as a sniper. His reflectiveness is what grabbed me, as he has much depth of thought to add to some stark tales. I have read this book while walking, late into the night, and when I really should have been doing other things. And this despite some clear breaks between parts of the book. A rare gem. Wish I had known Chris better in college!

Front row seating..........2005-11-16

This book was awesome, and the whole time I was reading it, I felt as though I was journeying right along beside Chris. A definite must-read.

Could use some "meat".......2005-08-01

This is an interesting read and Chris does mention several high profile incidents but it would have been better as a "this is my life book" as opposed to any real 'meat' but I don't think it would have done as well if he had so--hat's off....

He certainly has had an interesting career but the book winds down into a staff job with a sort of spin that is meant to keep the reader interested but doesn't. If you are reading a book of this nature you want to "be there" as was the case on several of the high profile occasions which were certainly introspective but less than exciting considering the modern warfare played out today in CT.

I do compliment him though on his service and the courage to write something about the topic because he is the only one to my knowledge that has.

Great FBI Book.......2005-06-02

Christopher Witcomb discusses in great detail his many experiences in the FBI, from his training to how he started as a field agent to being in the Hostage Rescue Team. It was a really interesting book, detailing his experiences, while adding other tidbits of information about the agency, the training requirements, and the current administrations.

Overall, I thought it was a great book, that made you want more for the story. The only thing I didn't like was he tended to overdramatize certain actions. For example, when discussing shooting a subject, he'll go into great length to discuss what could happen when he pulls the trigger, which towards the end of the audio book, gets a little annoying. Other than that, great audiobook.

Cold Zero : Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team

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Cold Zero : Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team
Christopher Whitcomb
Manufacturer: Little, Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OU2GOY

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Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team
Christopher Whitcomb
Manufacturer: Warner Books Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NSIFWO

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Cold Zero; Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team
Christopher WHITCOMB
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OWOTI8

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One of the Best Military Books Ever

A Good Read.

A benchmark

One Of The Best Two...

Gripping Story

Brennan's War: Vietnam 1965-1969
Matthew Brennan
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Southeast Asia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Hunter-Killer Squadron: Aero-Weapons, Aero-Scouts, Aero-Rifles, Vietnam 1965-1972

Headhunters: Stories from the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry in Vietnam, 1965-1971

Firebirds

ASIN: 0891412360

Customer Reviews:

One of the Best Military Books Ever.......2007-02-26

Brennan's war is one of the best books that I have ever read. It is such an amazing story that you occasionally think it is fictional. The military accomplishments of his unit are also impressive. It makes you wonder why the US leadership did not make these practices more widespread. I have read this several times and keep coming back to it.

A Good Read........2005-07-12

This book is a good read. It's interesting and well-written. I also like the fact that events and people in the book are plausible and reflect my own experiences of the war and Vietnam. In short, the book is pretty good entertainment. On the other-hand I tend to be impatient with "Tortured Warriors" filled with angst about their experiences in the war, and Mr.Brennan treats us to a full ration of his angst and self-pity. Bucko? You volunteered for it 3 times! Edit out the whining and it's 5 stars.

A benchmark.......2004-04-22

The quintessential combat memoir of the Vietnam War. Brennan's book is well written and he succeeds in creating gripping and vivid descriptions of combat from a soldier's perspective. This superb narrative conveys the fear and horror of combat along with shared humor and love felt among comrades. Brennan's honesty prevents him from romanticizing either his fellow soldiers, or the Vietnamese they are ever wary of, but he is able to humanize those trapped in a dehumanizing crucible. His multiple tours in Vietnam bridge the time before and after the 1968 Tet offensive, which became a turning point in the War. Upon receiving a commission and returning to Vietnam he found that mostly unmotivated and apathetic draftees gradually replaced the highly motivated professional soldiers he served with in his first tour, mirroring the larger erosion of the American military in Vietnam. His weary realization that the War will be lost and that all the sacrifices he witnessed will be squandered is both sobering and tragic. Along with Goodbye Darkness, this is a classic American war memoir.

One Of The Best Two..........2004-01-21

I read this book at least once every year. My primary field of study is the history of the 1st and 2nd Indochina Wars, and I have read literally hundreds of books about those conflicts. "Brennan's War" is one of the three best (the others are Jim Morris' "War Story" and John Cook's "The Advisor"; incidentally, I would make it a four way tie with David Hackworth's "About Face", but the latter covers a much greater period of time- roughly 1946 to 1971- and therefore it is not an apt comparison.). A cousin of one of my friends served in the 1st Cav. Div. in 1970 or 1971, and he said that Brennan was essentially worshiped as a living legend by many soldiers then in the division. Without recourse to cliches like "gripping narrative" etc., let me just say that if you want to understand what it was like to serve as a combat infantryman in Viet Nam, "Brennan's War" is about as close as any of us who were not there are going to get...

Dimestore Liam

Gripping Story.......2002-12-15

I have read this book at least 20 times. The story never fails to amaze me.

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BRENNAN'S WAR: VIETNAM 1965-1969
Matthew Brennan
Manufacturer: Presidio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RAY2NO

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Brennan's War: Vietnam 1965-1969
Mathew Brennan
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VZGBDE

Book Description

An inspiring collection featuring the milestone speeches of one of the greatest orators of the 20th century.Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., led the Civil Rights movement, inspiring generations of Americans and transforming the future of the United States. This collection includes the text of Dr. Kings best-known oration, I Have A Dream, his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, and Beyond Vietnam, a compelling argument for ending the ongoing conflict.

Download Description

His speeches stirred a generation to change--and outlined a practical way to economic freedom and true democracy. His words would help bring about the end of a brutally unequal system and would show a timeless method for achieving fairness and justice for all. A CALL TO CONSCIENCE is a milestone collection of Dr. King's most influential and best-known speeches. Compiled by Stanford historian Dr. Clayborne Carson, director of the King Papers Project, and by contributing editor Kris Shepard, this volume takes you behind the scenes on an astonishing historical journey--from the small, crowded church in Montgomery, Alabama, where "The Birth of a New Nation" ignited the modern civil rights movement, to the center of the nation's capital, where "I Have a Dream" echoed through a nation's conscience, to the Mason Temple in Memphis, where over ten thousand people heard Dr. King give his last, transcendent speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," the night before his assassination. In twelve important introductions, some of the world's most renowned leaders and theologians--Andrew Young, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Mrs. Rosa Parks, among others--share with you their reflections on these speeches and give priceless firsthand testimony on the events that inspired their delivery. Expressing a deeply felt faith in democracy, the power of loving change, and a self-deprecating humor, A CALL TO CONSCIENCE is Dr. King speaking today. It is a unique, unforgettable record of the words that rallied millions, forever changed the face of America, and even today shape our deepest personal hopes and dreams for the future.

Customer Reviews:

Gotta own.........2007-05-13

I listen to these over and over, can't stop listening to Dr. King. Very moving and the things he said and did were all so real. Our generation of now needs to hear his speeches. You really want this collection!!! I'm buying a couple more as gifts.

A Call to Conscience........2007-03-26

As one who may be called a baby-boomer, I was born at a privileged time; I more or less 'came of age' in the late 1960's, in a restless and changing world that was asking old questions anew, and breaking down old paradigms. Looking back from our present perspective, nothing of those times has cast a longer shadow than the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The King Estate has long been very protective of copyrights for Dr. King's speeches and this small volume is very welcome. Selecting Dorothy I. Height to introduce the 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech makes good sense, but does selecting Senator Edward Kennedy to present an introduction bring ethical legitimization to 'A Call to Conscience'? If the answer is no, there might have been a less distracting choice.

"We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence." - MLK, 1963

Nice to have.......2007-03-19

I think it is very much worth the purchase. From a historical prespective its very informative. The way MLK speaks is amazing and moving. The way he presents himself makes me want to better myself. I have to admit there is a problem with this product. The sound is not very clear on some parts of the cds. With that said, would I buy this product knowing what I know now, Indubitable Yes!

Important Work.......2007-02-18

Excellent introductions and speeches for those of us who weren't there to live it. Challenges one to seek to do important things, not ordinary things.

Martin Luther King Jr. is still teaching.......2007-01-10

This historical collection of the public speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. is a treasure for Americans and people all over the world. He is still teaching his message of truth, peace, and justice. The dramatic emotional connection you get when hearing his voice deliver these messages is an important way to learn about recent history.

I was born in 1947. I once heard Dr. King speak at UCLA when I was a student there in the 1960's. He, like his mentor Mohandas Gandhi, were remarkably wonderful men. Such peaceful men were murdered by assassins bullets but could not silence them. People can still learn from this fallen leader. Like Gandhi he was never elected to public office yet his words have great impact today while the actions of politicians have failed to achieve their intended goals. Hearing taped recordings of his live speeches is a treat.

A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Unabridged)

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A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Unabridged)
Shepard, Clayborne, Kris Carson
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B00005AASL

Book Description

In this book Robert Brulle draws on a broad range of empirical and theoretical research to investigate the effectiveness of U.S. environmental groups. Brulle shows how Critical Theory--in particular the work of Jürgen Habermas--can expand our understanding of the social causes of environmental degradation and the political actions necessary to deal with it. He then develops both a pragmatic and a moral argument for broad-based democratization of society as a prerequisite to the achievement of ecological sustainability.

From the perspectives of frame analysis, resource mobilization, and historical sociology, using data on more than one hundred environmental groups, Brulle examines the core beliefs, structures, funding, and political practices of a wide variety of environmental organizations. He identifies the social processes that foster the development of a democratic environmental movement and those that hinder it. He concludes with suggestions for how environmental groups can make their organizational practices more democratic and politically effective.

Agency, Democracy, and Nature The U.S. Environmental Movement from a Critical Theory Perspective

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Agency, Democracy, and Nature The U.S. Environmental Movement from a Critical Theory Perspective
Robert J. Brulle
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQR3DW

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